Chapter 1 - The House With Locked Rooms
Three months earlier, Isabella believed she had finally found safety.
Valecrest Villa stood on a hill above the city, surrounded by stone walls, cypress trees, and gardens designed so perfectly that even fallen leaves seemed forbidden. Its windows reflected the sky. Its marble corridors were wide enough to make footsteps sound like whispers.
To anyone outside the Vale family, it was a palace.
To Isabella, it soon became a beautiful prison.
She had married Adrian Vale after two years of courtship. He was the only son of the Vale family, heir to a shipping and development empire that stretched across three continents.
In public, Adrian was calm, disciplined, and impossible to embarrass.
With Isabella, he was different.
He laughed at her terrible singing. He remembered how she took her coffee. He once drove six hours through a storm because she had called and admitted she was afraid of spending the anniversary of her father’s death alone.
When he proposed, he did not take her to a private island or a ballroom.
He took her to the small bookstore where they had first met.
Isabella had believed that meant he understood her.
She had not understood that marrying Adrian also meant entering Margaret Vale’s world.
Margaret had lived at Valecrest for nearly forty years. She wore black after her husband’s death and never stopped, although the funeral had been twelve years ago. The staff spoke to her with lowered eyes. Business partners stood when she entered a room.
During Isabella’s first week at the villa, Margaret inspected everything she did.
The way she arranged flowers.
The way she greeted guests.
The time she woke in the morning.
The amount of sugar she put in her tea.
“You are not living in your old apartment anymore,” Margaret reminded her. “A Vale woman is observed even when she believes she is alone.”
At first, Isabella tried to be patient.
She told herself Margaret was grieving the loss of control over her son.
She told herself the older woman would soften.
Then Isabella became pregnant.
Adrian was overjoyed.
He lifted her off the floor when she told him, laughing in a way she had never heard before.
Margaret did not smile.
She stared at the pregnancy test on the breakfast table and asked only one question.
“Has a doctor confirmed it?”
Two days later, Margaret changed the household routine.
Isabella’s usual doctor was replaced by Dr. Julian Mercer, a private physician who had treated the Vale family for years. Certain foods disappeared from the kitchen. Elena was instructed to bring Isabella a vitamin drink every morning.
Margaret called it protection.
Isabella began to feel weaker.
She also began noticing doors that were never unlocked.
The east wing remained closed at all times. Margaret said the rooms contained old furniture and documents. Yet Isabella occasionally heard movement behind the doors late at night.
Once, she heard a child crying.
When she mentioned it to Adrian, he frowned.
“There are no children here.”
“I know what I heard.”
“It may have been outside.”
“It came from inside the wall.”
Adrian took her hand.
“You’ve been sleeping badly. Let me speak to Dr. Mercer.”
It was not the response Isabella wanted.
But she allowed herself to be comforted.
Two nights later, she woke and found someone standing beside her bed.
The room was dark.
Adrian was away on business.
Isabella could see only the outline of a woman.
“Margaret?” she whispered.
The figure did not answer.
Instead, it reached toward Isabella’s stomach.
Isabella switched on the lamp.
The room was empty.
The bedroom door was open.
May you like
On the floor beside the bed lay a black button.
It matched Margaret’s coat.
